Udhayanidhi Stalin: Hindi films kill the regional film industries in North India

In a statement that could both be taken as an observation of an industry he was once part of and also could be seen as yet another salvo on 'Hindi imposition', former actor and Tamil Nadu deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin criticised Hindi films eclipsing other regional language films of North India.

Attending a literary event in Kerala's Kozhikode, Udhayanidhi pointed out that Tamil films generate billions in revenue and other Southern industries like Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada too are lucrative, but the same cannot be said about Marathi, Bhojpuri, Bihari, Haryanvi and Gujarati cinema. He said that Mumbai exclusively generates Hindi cinema, while several regional languages in the North do not even have their own industries.

Remarking how the Dravidian movement revolutionised Tamil cinema, he said back in the 1950s Tamil was heavily Sanskritised in films in a way only relatable to the upper caste. He added that with the inception of the Dravidian movement, Tamil cinema was democratised and took it to people of all backgrounds.

His statements drew ire from his political rival BJP. Udhayanidhi was criticised for holding double standards, as Red Giant Movies, the production and distribution company founded by him, has been releasing several Hindi-dubbed films in Tamil Nadu over the years. A BJP spokesperson said, "to make money and be in power, they (DMK's first family) want Hindi, but they don't want the people of Tamil Nadu to learn Hindi."